170 



Unexplored Spain 



the great yard-long liorns with their branching tops seemed too 

 big even for that massive body. 



On examination blood was found at once, and on both sides 

 — that is, the bullet had passed right through. 



In the fog I had under-estimated the distance and the hit was 

 low and too far back. With two trackers I followed the spoor 

 while daylight served and through places that any words of mine 

 must fail to describe ; but from the first the head-keeper had fore- 

 told the result : " Eso no se cobra — va lejos " — "that stag you will 

 not recover ; he goes far, but wherever he stops, he dies. See 

 here ! the dogs have run his spoor all along, but have not yet 

 brought him to bay." 



The indications left by the stag on brushwood and rock 

 conveyed to the trackers' practised eyes, as clear as words, the 

 precise position of the wound ; and, as foretold, those coveted 

 antlers were lost, to perish uselessly. 



The pack of Mezquitillas was on this occasion reinforced by 

 those of the Duke of Medinaceli and of the Marquis of Viana — 

 bringing the total up to seventy hounds. Thus, in Spain, do the 

 Grandees of a big land, when guests at a monteria, bring with 

 them their huntsmen, kennelmen, and their packs of hounds — a 

 system that breathes a comforting sense of space. 



Next day being hopelessly wet, I took opportunity of measur- 

 ing three of the trophies which adorn the hall at Mezquitillas : — 



It will be observed that the stag shot a day or two before, and 

 illustrated above (p. 167), tops the best of these by half an inch. 

 The somewhat abnormal curve, however, partly explains this. 



We must record yet one more memorable day on this estate 

 of Mezquitillas. This monteria (in January 1910) covered the 

 region known as the Leoncillo. Upwards of twenty big stags 



